In two weeks I will be getting on a plane and heading to FL for a working vacation.  I am excited!  Working vacation, what the heck is that?

• It is a long weekend where I act in “official” capacity as an Executive Director of the Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America.  What does that mean?
• It means I head to Tampa with a smile on my face ready to meet and greet the hundreds of folks coming from all over the country to support our organization’s annual fundraiser with their attendance.
• It means I thank all of our vendors and sponsors for their attendance and support of our organization.
• It means I get to meet and hug WLS peeps I have only met on Facebook, or others that I only see a few times per year
• It means I get to see previous grant recipients in their new, transformed state
• It means I get to participate in the announcement of a new grant recipient.
• It means I get to hang out with the likes of Carnie Wilson and Lisa Lampanelli.
• It means I get to see the hard work of a huge team of volunteers come together into a weekend of fun, learning, tears and laughter
• It means I get to take a “class photo” with these hundreds of folks so I can recall the wonderful times we shared.
• And, as if all of that is not enough, on Monday morning I get to board a cruise ship with about 100 of these folks and enjoy another 5 days at sea.
• After sunning and swimming and scuba diving and snorkeling, when the trip is almost over,
• It means that I (along with another board member) gets to share with these folks our ideas about getting back into the real world.  The world where the person sitting next to you didn’t weigh 350 pounds last year and is now in a bikini, or the world where folks don’t understand when they try to give you another serving of whatever, that less is truly more for you now.

That’s my working vacation coming up.  It’s volunteer work, it’s paying it forward; it’s following my passion, it’s living my dream.

How about you?  Are you living your dream?